About Palm Beach Tenants Union

The Palm Beach Tenants Union is an all volunteer grassroots organization. We are not attorneys, and the information we provide is not, and is not intended to constitute legal advice, and is for general informational purposes only. Nor are we social workers, nor affiliated with any government agency or political party. We are a group of renters acting in solidarity with fellow renters. Below are our guiding principles.

Our Principles

• Housing is a Human Right - Housing must stop being treated as a commodity and investment and start being recognized as a utility and basic necessity of human life and community.

• Tenant Power - We are a union of tenants, for tenants and by tenants.

• Democracy - We operate democratically. All of our members have an equal say in decision-making at every level of the union.

• Solidarity - We support and aid one another’s housing and land needs to the best of our ability. If a union member has a landlord problem, we commit to helping them resolve the issue via means of legal, media, and/or direct action support.

• Independence - We are an autonomous, self-determined organization controlled by our members. If the union enters into agreements with other organizations or raises money from external sources, it is done so based on terms that ensure democratic control by the members and maintains the union’s autonomy.

• Equality - We recognize the rights of people of color, women, transgender, and queer people to be free from oppression, and we stand against any discrimination based on race, ethnicity, immigration status, age, gender or sexuality.

• Universality - We proclaim solidarity with all who labor for economic democracy, peace, justice, human dignity, and development throughout the world, particularly with the peoples of Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, and Latin America.

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What We Believe

1. We believe all tenants have the right to affordable decent housing, free from excessive and frequent rent increases. 

2. We believe all homes should be safe and secure in order to ensure the privacy of tenants. 

3. We seek to end arbitrary evictions and all retaliatory actions against tenants. 

4. We believe that all people should have access to housing free from discrimination based on race, color, creed, national origin, religion, sexual orientation, political ideology, lifestyle, age, family status, marital status, amount or source of income, or disability. 

5. We believe that all tenants have the right to organize and determine the rules and conditions of their tenancy through collective bargaining and other means. 

6. We believe that all tenants have the right to live in the neighborhood of their choice, and we seek to increase the supply of rental housing, particularly for low and middle income tenants. 

7. We believe that housing exists to meet a basic human need, and that when conflict arises between tenants’ needs and owners’ profits, the basic need for affordable decent housing must take priority over the economic interests of the landowners. 

8. We, the members, commit ourselves to working together to accomplish the above stated goals.